COMMUNITY FORUM

smelly dead mouse

At the place where I work, a mouse (we hope it's only a mouse) has died in the wall of our office. Now, I've read through some of the previous posts on this topic and I just can't believe that all we can do is wait it out or tear out the wall. (I smell -kidding- a million dollar invention here somewhere.) But, if this is the case, does anyone know of any good 'cover-up' or something for the smell? It's going on a month, now, and with summer coming, well, let's just say we'll be eating out... Thanks for your help!

Thanks for your input - it's good to know we're not alone in this smelly endeavor... After much pleading, several equally smelly "remedies", and offering to switch offices with several people, we might have permission to try to dig the thing out of the wall. So my question now is this: is there any 'surefire' way to find the deceased? The concern is that we'll drill a bunch of holes and still be unsuccessful (this is the worry of those not stuck in this office, mind you - I, possibly unwisely, do not share this worry). Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated! Thanks again...

Hatdrm and K2 - hi, I haven't had the "fortune" of dealing with dead mice in office walls - my last critter was a small opossum. My suggestion for finding the critter would be to use a stepladder and strong flashlight - use the ladder to get above the dropped ceiling if there's one, and use the light to look down between the drywall sheets. Many times, the walls don't run to the true ceiling and since the drywall's mounted to metal studwork, it's not capped at the top so you can look down through to the true floor.

Otherwise, you'd end up having to locate and use some type of borescope or remote inspection device that puts a mirror or camera on the end of a flexible wand and has a light source to illuminate the area you're trying to view. (You might even find something like this at a local tool rental place...) If all you have is an inspection mirror, you can shine a flaslight on the mirror and the reflected light would light up some of the area. This would work if you're able to gain access into the wall area by removing a telephone outlet plate where no box is behind the plate (in an office environment, you'd not normally find this unless someone ran the line in a big hurry after construction was completed).

When it comes time to remove the critter, recruit a handyman or DIYer to help out. If the wall has wallpaper, they should be able to cut the paper to peel it back, then cut through the drywall in such a way as to only need some spackling to put it back in place afterwards. A little wallpaper paste will put the wallpaper back down, and then it's just letting the smell dissipate. When I removed the opossum, our civil engineers (I'm in the USAF) gave me a professional-strength smell neutralizer that was definitely orange-based (like the cleaning stuff you see in the infomercials). I used some of that on a rag to wipe down the area where the carcass was laying, then sprinkled some on a paper towel and left that inside the wall. The orange smell was the only thing you could detect and it dissipated after a couple weeks. The container didn't have a brand name on it - sorry!

That's why i have a cat. She eats them. sorry to be gross, but my sarah is carnivorous. Would a cat in the office be such a bad idea? they are natural enemies. Some tips: contact the maintenance man to seal up all the small holes in the masonry, wood or steel structure of the building. A mouse can slip thru small holes and basically chew around wires, holes, etc. Tin foil rolled in balls is a good sealer.

Hurray!!! One of our coworkers (my new personal hero) was able to find and remove the rat (yes, I'm afraid to say it was a rat) using a high-powered light and some location guesswork (because we're in an office inside of a plant, there was a gap between a block wall and the drywall where the rat had gone to die) Thank you all for your help/advice/empathy... and, just something to keep in mind, this dead thing in the wall would make a great revenge tactic, if one was so inclined. Thanks again...

I'd love to hire your services but unfortunately live in CA. We definitely have a dead something and have torn the house apart looking for it. It's been a week now and at my wits end. I'm thinking about a hotel soon. How can an ozone generating machine help us find the smell? I thought all it would do is cover it up?

dseerveld is right! I also own a wildlife removal company and the best way to get rid of the smell is by finding the dead animal and removing it. You may also want to remove any insulation contaminated by the animal and apply an attic sanitizer to help break down any remaining fluids and bacteria.